Coffee Wars – Barista Championships 2014

Every year a select few men and women are chosen. These are the elite few who fill our hearts, minds and cups and allow us to start our day, pick us up during a mid-afternoon crash, or don’t judge us while we finish our screenplay we’ve been working on for the last 14 years.

These are the Baristas. These are the best the human race has to offer. These are the chosen. But there can be only one crowned the best Barista and at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, we have a contender.

Mike Renwick, an employee of LJLA’s Starbucks, has swooped first place in the Starbucks Barista district heat and is now preparing to take on coffee rivals Cafe Ritazza at the end of March.

“Mikey has been a Starbucks partner for 10 years,” said Paula Dempsey, Operations Manager for SSP. “He is hugely passionate about coffee and is currently coffee master but wanted to test his skills one step further. He decided to compete in this year’s Starbucks Barista championships and also Cafe Ritazza’s! Mikey’s presentations and coffee tasting involved different brewing methods and pitting different Sumatra coffees against each other. This brought him success in winning the district heat.

“I am very proud of Mikey and all the time and effort he poured into the championships and what he doesn’t know about coffee isn’t worth knowing!”

Sammy Patel, Commercial Manager at LJLA, says Mike is just another example of the high standard of staff that can be found within the Airport. “It is fantastic to see Mike being recognised for his expertise,” he said. “We are extremely lucky to have him and many more experts working in our retail and catering departments which allows us to offer our passengers a great customer experience when travelling through the Airport.”

All of us at LJLA would like to wish Mike all the very best of luck as he prepares for the next round of the competition. With his knowledge and skill (plus his ability to make a very tasty cup of coffee!) we are sure he will go far.